Task 1- 2-Purpose of Music Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQClR22WV0Y


Kasabian- Fire

Kasabians video for the song fire was filmed in South Africa and was directed by W.IZ a famous director who has worked on many music videos including Kasabians previous music video Empire. The video promotes the bands image as a cool rebels group who make their own rules and who are unafraid to take risks and live life on the edge. I think the target audience for Kasabian is young people between the ages of 14 to 19.

The music video Fire by Kasabian has taken scenes from Reservoir dogs and mixed these in the style of a western hold up. The narrative has taken scenes from spaghetti westerns and mixed these with the gangster style of Reservoir dogs to create a music video which cleverly shows the band robbing a bank while using there music to set the scenes This is shown by the use of guitars guns as and the group being shown on cctv holding up the bank. The use of music sheets to indicate money shows that to the bands music is as important as money and more valuable to them than wealth. The guitars are used during the video as weapons this could indicate the power of the music to the band. This also follows the storyline of a western style holdup. There is clever use of visuals at the beginning of the video by setting the scene in an empty street and showing each band member grouping together and building a sense of tension as they move towards the bank. There is a clever use of cinematography at the beginning of the film when the leading band member is signing to his reflection in the window and through the reflection you can see the other members of the band and the VW van entering the empty street. The use of lighting in this scene gives the feeling that the group are in hot dusty remote town. A mixture of black white film when they are on cctv and colour film during the video divides the robbery from the rest of the music video. The black and white film also uses the cctv clock ticking down towards zero this gives a sense of urgency. The clock also indicates the time that they have left as when the stop clock hits zero the police arrive and a member of the band in the robbery gets shot. The film then cleverly reverts back to colour as the band try to make there escape. The lyrics from the band pull along side the music video, in the lyrics the band states that they are an easy brother this indicates that they can form quick loyal relationships with other gang members. These lyrics are sung at the beginning of the video when all the band members are grouping together. The visuals are used to enhance the music by the fast beat being pushed through when ever any action was shown in the video and the slower beat was used at the beginning of the music video to slowly build up the tension and the beat. The chorus of the song “I’m on fire” are used during the robbery and are played louder and faster here to indicate the height of the robbery and feeling of heightened adrenalin running through the band. I think the song puts across the genre characteristics of an indie rock song this comes across in the music video by the style of the band. There dress and general appearance fits into this category. The music video is of a semi violent nature and the band put across a trouble making aurora and they have stepped outside of the normal rules of society, it suggest that to get what you want you need to step outside of the law. The music video carries us along and builds our excitement with the band, at the beginning of the video the band seem to be unbreakable and unshakeable but by the end of the music video we are assured that there is no easy way out. The band members losing there lives for a few sheets of music which are blown down the street give us this message.


Bibliography

I used two sources to write this analysis – Wikipedia and Kasabiabian.co.uk




Dirty cash (Money talks)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FT0-GdA4Ss

Dirty cash was originally a song by an artist in the 80’s called Stevie V but it was brought back this year by dizzee rascal with some new lyrics and a new video which was directed by the famous music video director W.I.Z the video promotes dizzee rascal as rich and powerful as he is being held up by the crowd.


There are many references to the film the Wikerman in this music video there are also flashes of characters from the eighties. There are visual references to the eighties credit crunch and the casual attitude towards money both today and in the past. The carnival of people following dizzee is full of characters such as Margret Thatcher, the McDonald’s mascot. Every person in the parade represents an icon of greed. These are all symbols of an easy and uneducated way of making money. We are shown the big issue and books about financial investment and Shakespeare being burnt. This could symbolise wanting to destroy the need for education and there is only a need for a shallow outer shell of a person. The lyrics are constant with the beat and more and more characters appear as the song proceeds. The lyrics point out dirty cash and how it has been obtained from lottery funds and entertainment the greed for money and the carnival are visualised as a pagan ritual. The music video shows the mob turning on dizzee and pushing him towards the fire they want make a sacrifice of him and turn him into an example and show others what happens if you do not conform and follow the crowd. The visual effects of the words burning pull you into the music video, the words
State least we forget taken from the poem least we remember I think this is meant to make us forget all of the lessons learnt from mistakes made in the past. Another good visual on the music video is the way the camera is panning around making you feel part of the crowd this is called a point of view shot. The smoke twirling around the procession in the dark also gives you a feeling of a crowd and being squashed and compressed.




Bibliography

I used two sources to write this analysis-

http://www.liquida.com/dizzee-rascal/ and Wikipedia